He previously wrestled for WWE as Husky Harris, most notably as a member of The Nexus. He also held the FCW Tag Team Championship twice with his brother former WWE superstar Bo Dallas.

He is a third generation professional wrestler, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, the late Blackjack Mulligan, his father Mike Rotunda, and two of his uncles (Barry Windham and Kendall Windham).

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Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling (2009–2010)

Rotunda debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in April 2009 with a victory, using the name Alex Rotundo.He later changed his name to Duke Rotundo. In June 2009, he began teaming with his brother Bo. At the FCW television tapings on July 23, The Rotundo Brothers defeated The Dude Busters (Caylen Croft and Trent Barretta) to become the number one contenders to the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. That same night, they defeated Justin Angel and Kris Logan for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. They went on to successfully defend the championship against Dylan Klein and Vance Archer and the team of Curt Hawkins and Heath Slater. At the FCW television tapings on November 19, The Rotundo Brothers lost the championship to The Dude Busters.

The Nexus (2010–2011)

On June 1, 2010, he was announced as a competitor in the second season of NXT under the name Husky Harris, with Cody Rhodes as his WWE Pro. Harris made his debut on the June 8 episode of NXT, competing in a tag team match with Rhodes against Montel Vontavious Porter and Percy Watson, which they lost. Harris turned into a villain on the June 22 episode of NXT by attacking announcer Matt Striker, just as Rhodes had done the previous week. The following week on NXT, Harris lost to Montel Vontavious Porter in a singles match, and was ranked seventh out of the eight rookies in the first poll. In the second poll, Harris moved up to sixth place, narrowly avoiding elimination. On August 9, the rookies appeared in a six-man tag team match on Raw, which Harris' team won when he pinned Kaval, but his team lost a rematch the following night on NXT. In the poll later that night, Harris climbed to fourth place out of the six rookies. Harris was one of two rookies eliminated from NXT on August 17 and, following his elimination, Harris and Rhodes attacked Kaval, resulting in a brawl also involving Montel Vontavious Porter and Kofi Kingston. Harris reappeared in the season finale of NXT with the other eliminated rookies and joined in on the attack on the NXT winner, Kaval.

While on NXT, Rotunda continued wrestling in FCW while retaining the Husky Harris ring name. In September 2010 following his elimination from NXT, Harris began a feud in FCW with Percy Watson when he attacked Watson while teaming with him in a tag team match, which led to Watson being pinned for the loss. When Harris and Watson faced off in a match, they were both counted out as they brawled out of the arena, which led to a no disqualification match that Harris lost. The feud ended in October, with Harris defeating Watson in a lumberjack match.

At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on October 4, a disguised Harris and Michael McGillicutty interfered in a match between John Cena and Wade Barrett, and helped Barrett win, forcing Cena to join Barrett's faction The Nexus per the pre-match stipulation. Harris' and McGillicutty's identities were revealed on the following day's episode of Raw, though Barrett claimed he had not asked for their help and refused to make them full-time members of The Nexus. The following week on Raw, Harris and McGillicutty cost Cena a match against The Miz, prompting Barrett to give them the opportunity to win membership in the Nexus. On the October 18 episode of Raw, Harris and McGillicutty failed to earn a place in The Nexus when they lost to Cena and Randy Orton in a tag team match. In spite of their loss, Harris and McGillicutty were inducted into The Nexus on Raw the following week. In January 2011, CM Punk took over The Nexus and had each of its members put through an initiation. Harris passed his initiation, a lashing from the rest of the group, and was allowed to remain a member of The New Nexus, alongside Punk, McGillicutty and David Otunga. On the January 31 episode of Raw, Harris and McGillicutty unsuccessfully challenged Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov for the WWE Tag Team Championship, after which Orton attacked the duo as part of his rivalry with the Nexus and punted Harris in the head, which was used to write Harris off television.

Return to FCW (2011–12)

Following the punt by Orton on Raw, Rotunda returned to FCW and in March 2011 adopted the gimmick of the hockey mask-wearing Axel Mulligan, but the character never made it to FCW TV, and Rotunda continued to play the Husky Harris character on FCW TV. In August 2011, Harris became embroiled in his brother Bo's (then FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion) feud with Lucky Cannon and Damien Sandow. The two brothers later teamed up to defeat Cannon and Sandow in a tag team match. Later, Harris voiced his displeasure of Bo's relationship with Aksana, and when Bo suffered a legit injury his title was vacated and a tournament set up to determine the new champion, during which Harris defeated Big E Langston to make it to the final, a fatal four-way match against Dean Ambrose, Leo Kruger and Damien Sandow, which he lost after Richie Steamboat (who was at ringside to aim for Ambrose) performed a superkick on Harris instead. Despite Aksana managed to get Steamboat to attack Harris again, he still won a triple threat match against Ambrose and Sandow to earn a match for the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship against Kruger, which Harris lost when he was distracted with Steamboat's interference once again. As a result, Harris and Steamboat began feuding, with their first match ending in a no contest. Kruger later defeated the pair in a triple threat match to retain the title. However, Harris would defeat Steamboat in a No Holds Barred match. After the pair continued to frequently attack each other, they were suspended for 30 days. Upon their return, Harris defeated Steamboat in a bullrope match to end their feud. On February 2, 2012, Harris and Bo Rotundo defeated Brad Maddox and Eli Cottonwood to win the vacant FCW Florida Tag Team Championship for the second time. They successfully defended the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship against Antonio Cesaro and Alexander Rusev, but lost the championship to Corey Graves and Jake Carter on March 15.